Because Christianity is bigger than Biblical manhood or Biblical womanhood (Blog of Retha Faurie)

Posts tagged ‘1 Cor. 11’

I think – but do not teach – that Paul was probably responding to things the Corinthians wrote to him here. (See 1 Cor. 7:1 for evidence Paul was speaking, in the latter part of 1 Corinthians, of some things they wrote to him about.)
He is probably quoting the contradictory views among them, views they probably argued (see “contentious” in vs. 16) about. And then, at the end of stating (mocking?) the way their views contradict each other, Paul gives this message: “Women should have authority on their own heads … Decide for yourself… I say this to anyone who wants to argue.”

In my view, Paul’s message (after quoting the Corinthians) is:

10 It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

Because all your contradictory arguments come to no conclusion, and believers will judge angels one day, sure women could decide for themselves what to wear on their heads.(more…)

In the world of Paul, people sometimes used a form of reasoning called a chiasm, where they put the most important part in the middle, with the other points sandwiched around it so that the first point is related to the last, the second to the second last, etc. 1 Cor. 11 contains such a chiasm. (more…)

How the culture(s) of Corinth probably made head coverings a dilemma for women:

I read elsewhere that men had these 2 messages about head wear: Jewish men wore something on their heads when praying as a sign that their sin stands between them and God. The Christian message is about Jesus forgiving sin, nothing standing between us and God, so Christians should not follow their example for headgear under prayer. Male temple prostitutes in Corinth had long hair, and obviously, Christians should show their religion is not like those religions. That made it pretty clear what men in that world should have on their heads when going to church: Short hair, no extra headwear. Anything else sent out the wrong message.

Women, on the other hand, allegedly got mixed messages in that multicultural society. One message said women are more respectable covered up. (more…)